California to Spend Up to $44 Million for Ambitious Alpha Stem Cell Clinic Plan

California late next week is expected to plunk down as much as $44 million to help make the Golden State the global leader in stem cell research as well as a go-to location worldwide for patient stem cell therapies.

The ambitious proposal comes from the state's $3 billion stem cell agency which aims to create high-powered Alpha Stem Cell Clinics at major universities around the state. The clinics would be one-stop centers for stem cell treatment and would be designed to attract patients from throughout the world.

Afflictions under attack include cancer and heart disease along with diabetes and spinal cord injury.

Just who will get the cash will be determined on Oct. 23 when directors of the agency will meet in Los Angeles to consider seven proposals. The directors will be working from summaries of the closed-door review and subsequent decisions on the applications by the agency’s blue-ribbon panel of out-of-state reviewers. 

The reviewers approved three proposals for a total of $33.6 million. A fourth, $11 million application received partial support but fell short of a flat recommendation for funding, which agency directors almost never reject. However, the board could decide to back the proposal despite reviewers' concerns. 

All of the applications come from the cream of California universities. The agency withholds the identities of grant applicants in nearly all cases until after the board acts. However, proposals from the City of Hope and UC San Diego appear to be ranked No. 1 and No. 2. UCLA is ranked No. 3, based on the review summaries and other information.

Other likely applicants include USC,  UC San Francisco and Children’s Hospital Oakland,  UC Davis, Stanford and UC Irvine. Some of the proposals brought together two or three institutions. 

All of the institutions have representatives on the 29-member governing board of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine(CIRM), as the agency is formally known. They will not be allowed to vote on or discuss applications involving their institutions or businesses.

Viacyte, Inc., of San Diego, also appears to be a beneficiary because of its involvement in a trial with UC San Diego, one of the three top applicants (see the review summary for application 7764.) Viacyte has already received $55 million from the agency.

All of the clinical trials proposed or underway are early stage efforts. With early trials, the general odds of a specific therapy becoming available for widespread use are slim and could take a decade or more. 

The three apparent winners are all located in Southern California, leaving Northern California unrepresented, which poses a ticklish scientific-political problem. If the 4th-ranked application is located in Northern California, that fact could well push it into approval.

However, the review summary of the application said,

"The PD and institution have ties to one of the lead clinical trials, which could result in the appearance of a conflict of interest. Reviewers commented that policies should be in place to ensure that the relationships are clearly defined and separated."

The candidates rejected outright by reviewers may well appeal the decisions. The California Stem Cell Report has queried the agency concerning appeals, but the agency has moved much of the appeals process behind closed doors to be handled by its staff. Previously appeals often came directly to the board in public. However, applicants still have the right to appear before the board on any matter.  

Also undisclosed is the full amount of matching funds and other commitments offered by the competing applicants, which appear to be substantial. One applicant (application 7650) mentioned $10 million in its review summary.  Another applicant, which appears to be UC San Diego, touted a single, large private donor. Multibillionaire Denny Sanford has funneled $100 million into stem cell research through a linkage with the San Diego university.

The Alpha Clinic plan is the brainchild of former stem cell agency president, Alan Trounson, who is not expected to attend next week’s meeting. Trounson earlier this year resigned to return to Australia. Seven days after he left the agency, he accepted an appointment to the board of StemCells, Inc., which has received $19 million from CIRM. The agency was shocked by the move and suffered a spate of bad publicity as a result.

Trounson first broached the Alpha concept in 2011.  And in 2013, he told the Los Angeles Times, 

“It will make California a go-to place for stem cell therapies. I want to make sure it's part of our medical fabric."

An article in the journal Nature Medicine said the proposal would create the first-ever “clinical trials network focused around a broad therapeutic platform.”

To dig into the applications and scores, see this document. All of the review summaries are jumbled into the document, but you can scroll through or use a search tool to find specifics.